Fire breathing Dragon!

With the plethora of muzzle devices on the market today, come check out what our testers have to say about the new Lantac Dragon that makes it so unique.

In the world of black rifles, the AR15 and its clones are king. There are many reasons to love the AR15, but one of the endearing qualities is the vast amount of aftermarket accessories available to the shooting public. From custom gun rails to a wide variety of sights, grips, and optics, improving and enhancing your AR offers endless possibilities. For this article, we will be looking at the Lantac USA Dragon muzzle brake/compensator hybrid.

The muzzle brake is used to counteract the recoil forces in such a way to direct the recoil back to the shooter. This is typically done with side vents which direct the gasses backward, thus reducing the perceived felt recoil by putting the “brakes” on, if you will. The compensator helps to reduce the rise of the barrel by directing gasses leaving the barrel upward, helping to mitigate or “compensate” the muzzle rise.

The Brake Down

While there are a lot of products that fall into the hyprid category, I don’t think many have received the amount of debut attention as the Patent Pending DGN 556B Dragon Muzzle Brake and Compensator by Lantac USA. The Dragon is CNC machined from US Milspec AISI 4140 steel which is then finished with a Tufride QPQ Liquid Nitride process to create a corrosion resistant and extremely durable finish. The overall dimensions of the Dragon are 2.570” long with a diameter of .870”. It weighs in at 3.2 oz and is threaded for ½”x28 for 5.56×45/.223 caliber barrels.

Performance Features

Lantac Dragon features a primary discharge chamber that incorporates angled, vertical porting to direct gasses upward to compensate for muzzle rise. This allows the shooter to maintain a better sight picture and the ability to drive the gun back on to target quicker for follow up shots. There are also three larger chambers at the 3 and 9 o’clock position to act as a muzzle brake and reduce perceived felt recoil. Lantac uses two patent pending methods in their muzzle device to enhance its performance. UFA (Ultra Fast Attenuation) and SEP (Short, Energy, Pulse).

According to Lantacs DGN556B spec sheet the definitions of UFA and SEP are as follows:

UFA:“Ultra Fast Attenuation disrupts blast gas as it passes through the brake giving it an extremely low signature for such an effective device. The Dragon is not a Flash Suppressor, but it is very efficient at management of muzzle blast in more than one way.”

SEP:“Short. Energy. Pulse. In muzzle brakes with longer energy pulses recoil has more of a cumulative effect. The shooter is still managing the energy load from the first shot when the second occurs, as subsequent shots or pulses of energy are delivered they are constantly working to regain position but slowly being pushed further back. With LANTAC S.E.P Technology the energy pulse is shortened and it is made possible for the shooter to regain their original position much quicker, subsequent pulses of energy do not overlap as much and therefore muzzle ‘recoil’ over single and multiple shots is greatly reduced. Sustained full auto fire is possible with much improved muzzle control meaning that all shots fall on target.”

Range Time

During one of our recent range sessions we had the opportunity to get one of the Dragon installed on one of our custom ARs. Installation was easy and straight forward and is similar to other muzzle device installations. Once installed we loaded up and started putting rounds down range. Shooting with the Dragon was a very pleasant and enjoyable experience. The recoil impulse, while minimal on a 5.56, was pretty much eliminated. Follow up shots were easy and rapid. Muzzle blast for the shooter wasn’t really an issue, however like most brakes, anyone standing to the side of the shooter will not be happy. As we were shooting outside, the blast wasn’t too terrible. Indoor shooting would be a different story.

Lasting Impressions

Due to limited time and ammunition availability, we didn’t have a ton of rounds to put through it. We do plan to keep the Dragon on the gun and continue to shoot it in our shoots. We hope to evaluate a few more aspects of the Lantac Dragon in the near future. The first is muzzle flash. While it was rainy and overcast for part of the shoot, we were not able to see any muzzle flash so we plan to take this device out during a low light shoot and see what kind of flash signature is created. Second, we would like to evaluate how controllable it is during full auto fire. Lantac has an outstanding promo video on their website that really shows off this capability, but we would like to validate it ourselves. Besides, it’s always nice to have an excuse to flip the fun switch. Over all, we were very impressed and look forward to more Dragon time!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve has been a firearms enthusiast for over 20 years and is currently an NRA lifetime member. In 1996 he joined the United States Navy and served as a Special Warfare Combat Crewman (SWCC) at Special Boat Unit 12 (Now renamed Special Boat Team 12). He made two tours during his time of service and spent most of his time in southeast Asia and the Middle Eastern theaters. Upon his Honorable Discharge in 2000, Steve spent the next 10 years earning his Masters Degree and state license as an Architect. Steve brings a unique perspective from both his tactical and design background and is a reviewer and contributor for Guns & Tactics Magazine, Defense Marketing Group and other media outlets. View all posts by Steve Coulston